Efimov physics and the three-body parameter for shallow van der Waals potentials

Abstract

Extremely weakly-bound three-boson systems are predicted to exhibit intriguing universal properties such as discrete scale invariance. Motivated by recent experimental studies of the ground and excited helium trimers, this work analyzes the three-body parameter and the structural properties of three helium atoms as the s-wave scattering length is tuned artificially. Connections with theoretical and experimental studies of the Efimov scenario as it pertains to cold atom systems are made.